Bungie to Reveal Marathon Gameplay in Upcoming Livestream

Bungie is set to unveil more about its highly anticipated PvP extraction shooter, Marathon, with an exciting gameplay livestream scheduled for this Saturday, April 12 (or April 13, depending on your time zone). The excitement began last week when the Destiny developer shared a cryptic tweet featuring a 15-second video that sparked an "extensive alternative reality game," sending fans into a frenzy of speculation and investigation.

Eagle-eyed players discovered that the ASCII art in the video contained a snippet from the initial trailer, specifically showing a runner sprinting down a hallway. Further decoding revealed an intriguing message: "WHEN WILL HE RETURN ERROR ERROR ERROR HAS OCCURRED THE ENEMY RETURNED SYSTEM WARNING: PROTOCOL BREACH EVACUATE THE BASE IMMEDIATELY ALL UNITS REPORT TO STATION INITIATE EMERGENCY PROTOCOL 7 DATA LOSS IMMINENT GOOD LUCK, COMMANDER."

Bungie praised the global community effort, stating, "Thousands of community members across the world worked together to unlock the gameplay reveal date for Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter Marathon." The livestream is scheduled for 10 am PDT (San Francisco) / 1 pm EDT (New York) / 6 pm BST (London) / 7 pm CEST (Berlin/Paris) / 9 pm GST (Dubai) or Sunday, April 13 at 2 am JST (Tokyo) / 3 am AEST (Sydney) / 5 pm NZST (Auckland).

First announced in May 2023, Marathon is a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, promising to deliver an immersive experience filled with "mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness." Set on the enigmatic planet of Tau Ceti IV, players will take on the roles of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries engineered to endure the planet's challenging conditions. The game involves exploring a lost colony, scavenging for valuable loot, including new weapons and gear.

Despite the initial excitement, updates on Marathon have been sparse. A development update in October provided some insight into the game's mechanics, though Bungie emphasized the project's early stage. Meanwhile, Sony, Bungie's parent company, has faced its own shifts in strategy, particularly after the abrupt cancellation of the live-service shooter Concord. In November 2023, Sony president Hiroki Totoki announced that the company would focus on launching only six out of the planned 12 live-service games by March 2026, which led to the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game.

Bungie has also encountered significant challenges internally. In July 2024, the studio laid off 220 staff members, representing 17% of its workforce, less than a year after another round of layoffs affecting 100 employees. Amidst these difficulties, former Marathon director Chris Barrett was reportedly fired following an internal misconduct investigation, and he subsequently filed a lawsuit against Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie, seeking over $200 million in damages.

To catch the Marathon gameplay reveal live, tune into the official Marathon Twitch channel on April 12.